Improvement in locks for fire-arms



'A. NUDD.

Locks fur Fire-Arms.

Patented April 28,1874.

W555]: ewes L NI'IED STATES AMOS NUDD, OF WAUPUN, WISCONSIN.

IMPROVEMENT lN LOCKS FOR FIRE-ARMS.

Specification formin g part of Letters Patent No. 150,349, dated April 28, 1874; application filed February 25, 1874. v

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, AMos NUDD, of Waupun, in the county of Fond du Lac and State of Wisconsin, have invented certain Improvements in Fire-Arms, of which the following is a specification:

My invention consists in certain improvements in guns, whereby the hammer, which is arranged to serve as a trigger-guard, is made to transmit its blow to the cartridge in the chamber of the gun, as hereinafter more fully described.

As guns are ordinarily constructed the. hammer projects above the stock in such a position that it is very apt to be accidentally caught on limbs when hunting in the woods, or against other objects when climbing fences, sitting in boats or wagons, and thus to cause premature discharges of the gun, thereby frequently causing serious, and oftentimes fatal, accidents.

To remedy this defect is the object of my invention; and to accomplish this object I con struct the hammer and look as represented in the drawings, in whioh- A represents the stock, and B the barrel. F represents the guard-strap, and which, in this case, is made to serve as the lock-plate. The trigger-guard H I construct so as to serve both as a guard and as a hammer, it being pivoted at its rear end to the plate F, with its rear end projecting beyond the pivot for the mainspring m to bear upon, a friction-roller being used, if desired to lessen the friction of the parts. In front of the pivoted end of the hammer H I pivot a sear or lever, t, the rear or lower end of which is arranged to engage in suitable notches in that part of the hammer which serves as a tumbler, the front end being pressed down by a spring, 12, as represented in the drawing. In front of this sear I pivot the trigger l, with a shoulder on its rear face arranged to bear against the front end of the scar on its under side, so that when the trigger is pulled the sear will be drawn out of the notch in the hammer, thereby releasing the latter. In the breech O I arrange a firing-pin, b, with a spiral spring, in the usual manner, and in rear of this I insert, loosely, a curved pin, a, which is fitted to slide freely in a corresponding groove in a plate, D, in rear of the breech O, as shown in the drawing, this curved pin a being so located that its front end will strike against the rear end of the firing-pin I), while its lower end will rest in a cavity or recess just above the guard strap.

drive it against the lower end of the curved pin a, which, in turn, strikes the pin 11 and drives it against the cartridge or cap, thus firing the charge. The-spring c is intended to be of such stiffness that, after the gun is discharged, or when it is not cooked, it will press down on the point of the hammer H with sufficient force to free itself from contact with the pin a, thereby leaving it to rest freely in its seat without pressing at all against the pin 1). If desired, the curved pin 1) may have a slot or a recess formed in one edge, and a pin arranged so as to limit its backward movement, and thus hold it from contact with the spring 0, though I do not consider this essential.

' In the drawing I have represented my invention as applied to a gun in which the barrel is arranged to tip up at the rear, but it is obvious that it may be applied to other styles with equal facility; for instance, the barrel may be rigid, and the breech-piece C may be made to move in any suitable manner, and still operate the same so far as the hammer is concerned; or, by cutting a suitable recess and substituting a nipple in place of the pin 1), the improvement may be applied to a muzzle-loading gun. It is also obvious that the lock may be diiferently constructed, and still this same hammer and the curved pin a be used with equal advantage.

With a hammer thus constructed, it will be seen that when carrying the gun with the hammer down, there is no liability of its being accidentally caught and raised so as to explode the charge, and that when at astate of rest the spring 0, pressing its nose back, prevents it from resting on the pin, and that there is no means by which the gun while in that state can be fired, except by a blow on the hammer, and even that may be prevented by arranging a small plate on the under side of the plate F, so as to slide over the piece (I, and thus rest between it and the nose of the hammer, thus preventing the possibility of an accidental discharge by means of the hammer.

The device, as a whole, is very simple and cheap, and renders a gun far more safe than with hammers 0f the usual construction.

Having thus described my invention, What I claim is- The combination of the hammer H with the spring 0 and the curved pin a, all constructed and arranged to operate substantially as described.

AMOS NUDD.

Witnesses I). S. DEAN, E. S. HAsKINs. 

